


New Neighbours

by Taupefox59



Category: The Hobbit RPF
Genre: Domesticity, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, SO MUCH FLUFF, moving in
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-27
Updated: 2016-06-28
Packaged: 2018-07-18 12:39:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7315555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taupefox59/pseuds/Taupefox59
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aidan moves in, and meets the man who happens to live across the street...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Moving In

**Author's Note:**

> Moving this up here from my old tumblr account, because I realized how painfully little Aidean I've actually posted and it is my FAVOURITE.
> 
> Un-beta'd, so if you catch anything, please let me know!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aidan Moves in

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-beta'd so if you catch anything, please let me know! Con-crit always welcome!

Aidan stared at the contents of his fridge. A styrofoam take-away container with half a sandwich that he wanted to save for dinner. A half-empty, defrosting bag of meatballs, and a jar of bolognaise sauce, a nearly full bag of wilting carrots, and a jar of gherkins. He closed the fridge. He wasn’t sure how he managed to have wilting carrots, as he’d only moved in to the flat two days ago, but, who was he to question the dark magic that lived within the confines of appliances? The cupboard wasn’t much better off, containing a jar of instant coffee, a box of tea, half a box of biscuits and a bottle of wine his parents had put in with his things as a house-warming gift.

With a sigh, he turned to survey the array of boxes still yet to be opened. He didn’t even really want food. He just wanted something to do for a while that wasn’t unpacking.

The sun filtered through the hazy London fog through the windows of his ground-floor flat. It truly was a nice place; not so big as to swallow him up when he came home to another night by himself, but also not so small that as to create claustrophobia when he wanted to fill the space with friends and laughter.

Deciding that he’d take a proper break in another hour, when the sun would be low enough that he could justify slacking off, he got back to sorting his things out. Time seemed to drag by, marked only by the shuffling of boxes from room to room, echoing in the still-empty space. He’d managed to mostly get every box at least in the appropriate room by the time that the view out of the windows was awash with the warm pink of the setting sun.

It seemed like as good a time as any to finally get away from the tedium of setting up a new place. Leaving his piles of boxes where they’d accumulated over the afternoon, he returned to the kitchen.

When he checked in the fridge, nothing had changed. A sandwich was well and good, but what he really wanted was a drink. He grabbed the bottle of wine, when the realization dawned: he had no idea where his corkscrew was. It was, of course, going to be in one of the four boxes labeled “ _KITCHEN SHIT_ ” in his own untidy scrawl. It wasn’t likely to be on the top, either, as small things had a tendency to fall when shipped. That, added in with the way things inevitably became impossible to find when they were actually needed meant that Aidan had a very slim chance of being able to find a corkscrew with anything resembling grace or patience. He glared at the bottle. He could attack it with a knife, or a pair of scissors to see if he could just push the cork into the bottle…

No. He wasn’t quite ready to admit he was that desperate yet. He let out a frustrated sigh and set the bottle down. Apparently he was having a cold sandwich for dinner.

He took the sandwich out of the fridge and flopped down into the couch that was still haphazardly shoved into the middle of the room. He’d move it later, but for now it gave him a nice view out the window. Out the window...where he could see the light on in the flat across the street.

He could always...ask to borrow a corkscrew. From the hopefully-friendly neighbour across the street. He could even bring the bottle over, so he wouldn’t even have to take the corkscrew. Just...make use of it.

Aidan stared out the window, contemplating. Was he willing to actually knock on the door of someone he’d never met before, just to get into a bottle of wine? He looked around, and was met with with the impassive brown from piles of cardboard boxes.

Yes, he finally decided. Yes he was.

Grabbing the bottle of wine, gathering his courage, and leaving any shred of his dignity behind, Aidan walked out of his flat and across the street.

The flat across the street was a mirror image of his own; a blue door and white facing, a tiny patch of green for a garden that spread below a bay window with lace curtains. Aidan knocked on the door, and a huge, shaggy beast of a dog appeared in the window, pressing its nose to the glass and letting out a loud bark.

Aidan was suddenly flooded with second thoughts. This was surely one of the dumbest ideas he’d ever had. He didn’t know who lived in this flat. This was London. Nobody in London knew their neighbours. Christ, what a mistake.

The door opened.

Aidan couldn’t think for a moment, mind completely blank, except for a pleasantly shocked “oh.” It took him a few seconds of foolish gaping to drag his brain past thoughts of “gorgeous” and “blue eyes” and “dimples”.

The blonde man who had opened the door smiled. “Can I help you?”

He wasn’t from London. Aidan wasn’t sure if he could place the accent. He stood in the doorway, still not managing to stay anything.

The man raised an eyebrow.

“Oh!” Aidan said, quickly, attempting to cover up how obviously he’d been staring, “ehm. I just moved in across the street.”

“I saw the truck.” The blonde man said, with a nod.

“Right,” Aidan said, cursing himself for only being able to state the obvious and deciding to just get to the point before he could make an even bigger fool of himself. “See. The thing is, I haven’t managed to unpack everything yet. I was wondering if I could use a bottle opener?”

The blond man’s eyes widened in understanding. “Oh! Of course! Of course.” He stepped away from the door and motioned for Aidan to follow him. “Come in. My name’s Dean by the way.”

“I’m Aidan.”

“Nice to meet you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm always happy to say hi [ on tumbr](http://taupefox59.tumblr.com/) too!


	2. The Next Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next morning... an angel appears bearing coffee.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Un-beta'd so if you catch anything, please let me know! Con/crit always welcome!

Aidan woke up with the sun, which was at once terribly disappointing and not surprising at all, as he had yet to purchase any curtains for his bedroom, let alone put them up. He rolled over and tried to ignore the painful light of the sun and heavy pulse in his head that was threatening to become a headache if he didn’t do something about it.

He spared a brief moment to think that maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to have wine as a main course for dinner the night before.

But…if he hadn’t, he never would have met the beautiful blond who lived across the street. He smiled at the thought of him, blue eyes and gold hair and dimples. Aidan gave a happy hum at the thought of it, but the vibration of it disagreed with the pounding in his temples.

Giving up on the idea of more sleep, Aidan pulled himself out of bed and over to the pile of boxes marked ‘CLOTHES’. He spent a moment staring at the flat, unfriendly tower of cardboard, and admitted that it might have been a good idea to pack some sort of bag filled with useful things.

Next time.

Next time he moved somewhere he was going to do a much better job at prioritizing things.

Like cork screws. And clothes.

He couldn’t do this. He needed coffee.

He paused for a moment in the doorway of the bedroom, remembering that he didn’t actually have any curtains at all for his new place, so trousers were probably a requirement before making the journey to the kitchen. Going through boxes definitely wasn’t an actually viable option though, so instead he just pulled on the clothes he’d worn the day before that he’d left in a pile on the floor.

He’d change after breakfast.

Whatever he could scrounge for breakfast. He had eaten the last of the edible food in his fridge for dinner last night. Which meant he’d have to go out and find somewhere, unless he was willing to make an actual store-run. (A proper trip to the store was definitely in order, but that meant lists and thinking, and then having to come back and cook, and that was just…not something that was going to happen.)

Aidan had just managed to make it to the kitchen without tripping over anything - quite a feat given the haphazard piles of half-packed boxes everywhere - when there was a knock on the door. Aidan paused, because who in the world could possibly be at his door? His parents had left, and he hardly knew anyone in the city yet. Another knock, drew Aidan out of his confused stupor and pulled him to the doorway. Aidan pulled the door open without thinking, and was stunned when he saw none other than his beautiful neighbour from the night before.

His beautiful neighbour who was currently balancing a tray that had two huge paper cups and large white paper bag on it.

Aidan had a single painful moment of where his mind threw up an image of how mussed and greasy he must look, uncaffeinated and wearing yesterday’s clothes. He shook it away. There wasn’t anything he could do about it now.

“Uhm. Hi?” He said, and then had to fight off a wince. Was that really the best he could do?

Dean smiled hesitantly. “Hi. After last night, I thought I might drop by and see if you maybe wanted a bit of a tour of the neighbourhood. I didn’t mean to wake you up or anything…?”

“Oh! No. Just, ah, I’ve got a jar of instant, and a kettle somewhere, and uh,-”

“Christ. Instant’s not coffee.” Dean said

Aidan could only grimace at the thought. “Yeah. Not really, no.”

Dean lifted up the tray. “One of these is for you.”

Aidan blinked. “You’re an angel, you know that?”

Dean laughed. “There’s food too.”

“I could fucking kiss you.” And then Aidan stopped, because he had just said that. To his beautiful neighbour that he’d met all of twelve hours ago, and why could he not just melt into the floor and never exist.

Dean laughed.

Aidan looked up.

“Usually that waits until after I’ve actually managed to ask you out.”

Aidan stared. “What?”

“And I guess usually asking people out waits until after they’ve had enough coffee to wake up properly.”

“Yes!” Aidan blurted out.

“Yes?” Dean said.

“Definitely yes.” Aidan said.

“Well then. Why don’t you take this coffee, and I’ll show you around? I happen to know this really great park nearby that seems about perfect for a first date.”

“I need to put on shoes.” Aidan said.

Dean laughed again. “That would probably be for the best.”

“Right. Ehm. Do you want to…come in? I’ve got…a couch?” Aidan said, gesturing in to where his floor was still mostly covered in boxes, packing paper, and piles of crap that he hadn’t yet found homes for.

Dean took it all in and smiled. “Sounds great.”

Aidan smiled back. Suddenly, this morning seemed like the best thing that could have ever happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Come say hi [ on tumbr](http://taupefox59.tumblr.com/) too!


	3. In Need of Directions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aidan isn't sure how to navigate London, but luckily, Dean is there to help him out.

There was a knock on the door. Batman shot across the room, jumping onto the couch to press his nose against the windowpane to take stock of their visitor.

“Who is it, boy?” Dean asked, walking to the door, “Is it someone scary? Should I be scared?”

Batman barked in reply and wagged his tail.

“Yeah, you’re the best guard dog,” Dean said, shaking his head at the Batman’s antics, “You’ll just love everyone to death.” With a laugh, he pulled the door open, only to be met with the most pleasant surprise - his smouldering hot neighbour with no corkscrew had stopped by again.

“More wine troubles?” Dean asked, unable to fight back a smile.

Aidan blushed and brought a hand up to rub at the back of his neck. “No, I’ve managed get the wine situation sorted.”

Dean stepped away from the door and motioned his new neighbour in to the sitting room. Batman jumped off the couch and ran headlong into Aidan’s legs, demanding attention. Aidan grinned at the dog and leaned down to run his hands through Batman's shaggy fur.

On some level, Dean was aware that he should probably be doing something other than staring at the way Aidan’s jeans were clinging to his ass as he bent down, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to do anything about it.

Aidan was still petting Batman when he started to speak again. “I, ehm. Actually I was wondering if you could maybe help me out with something else.”  Aidan looked up, and Dean was again struck by the warmth and energy sparking in dark eyes.

“What’s up?”

“I need to get to the Courtyard Theatre, but Google keeps telling me that the address doesn’t exist? Is there any chance you might know how to get there?”

“Where is it?” Dean asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

“Well, I’ve got it written down that it’s on Green Walk? But maybe I’ve gotten it wrong…”

Dean frowned for a moment, trying to remember if he knew anything that could be of help. He really wanted to be helpful, because the more he proved himself to be helpful, the more often his beautiful neighbour would end up in his sitting room. He stood for a moment, wracking his memory.

“Wait. Courtyard Theatre? That the Indie place, right?”

“Yes!” Aidan said, enthusiasm and relief coating his words.

Dean was momentarily distracted by way Aidan’s smile seemed to the most concentrated source of joy he’d ever been exposed to. Then he remembered they were having a conversation. Right. “Yeah. I’ve been there. There was something...Oh!” Dean laughed, “I remember now. It’s not on Bowling  _ Green _ . It’s on Bowling  _ Gren _ . There’s only one ‘e’. I had the worst time finding it, because I was so sure it was a typo.”

Aidan laughed, giving Batman one final pat before standing up, “Well. That certainly makes me feel better.”

“It happens to the best of us.” Dean said with a grin.

There was a long moment when neither of them quite knew what to say. Dean didn’t want Aidan to leave, but it wasn’t as if his neighbour had any reason to stay.

“I could take you there!” Dean blurted out.

“Hmm?” Aiden asked, tilting his head inquisitively.

“I could take you there. Show you around a bit.” Dean said, “I mean. If you want.”

Dean thought that London could run for weeks on the power of Aidan’s smile.

“I’d like that, Dean. If it’s not too much trouble-”

“No, no!” Dean reassured quickly, “It’ll be no trouble at all.”

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi (or leave a prompt!) [ on tumbr](http://taupefox59.tumblr.com/) too!
> 
> Also, read the comments for a bonus story! - that may be a *lot* steamier than what you've just read, so check that out too! <3

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Someone Fancies the Neighbour](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7581787) by [foxriverinmate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/foxriverinmate/pseuds/foxriverinmate)




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